The Year in Review

Rule no. 1 for bloggers is that you should never ever apologize for it being so quiet here and not posting for a while.

So I won’t. (But I’m sorry, really).

Rule no. 2 for bloggers seems to be that, at the end of the year, you write a post to review one thing or another. So let’s join and review the past year.

The Good…

Does it make me sound like an arrogant jerk when I say my life is awesome? I don’t care: My life is awesome. Period.

Therefore, it’s a bit hard to pick the highlights: it was more like a general (and ongoing!) episode of awesomeness. So many awesome dives, so many nice and fun students, so many other sweet and interesting people. So much beauty. So much love.

I’m just having so much fun. Even the last two months, which were (are!) kind of boring, are still awesome because I get to spend time with my family and friends and enjoy all the luxuries of being home. For a little while, that’s good, but man that travel itch gets worse by the day!

Good Times! (photo by Sandra Dienemann)

The Bad…

But, to be fair, it’s not all sunshine and glitterfairies. Shit happened too, of course. One of our divers got a DCS (decompression sickness) hit – for mysterious reason – and had to be evacuated to Singapore. She can probably never walk normally again. Of course everybody knows this can happen, but to see it happen and to be involved is a whole other story.

The constant worries about money are starting to get to me too. No one is in the dive industry for the money and I know it’s a choice and all that, but I’m just done with being broke all the time. I love my job, it just sucks it’s hard to make a decent living of it, but that’s perhaps a story for another post, and I won’t let it spoil the fun.

And the Ugly…

Just Kidding. There’s no Ugly.

I am so grateful that I get to do what I do, all the beautiful places I get to live in, all the wonderfully weird encounters that I have, with people and underwater. A big shoutout to all my amazing students from the past year. Keep diving, keep learning (keep teaching me!), and keep me posted on your shenanigans!